


I Am The One

by dragonsshades



Series: DragonsShades Dragon Age Shorts [2]
Category: Dragon Age: Inquisition, Dragon Age: Origins
Genre: Angst, F/F, Fluff and Angst, Short & Sweet, Short One Shot, Song Lyrics, Songfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-30
Updated: 2018-03-30
Packaged: 2019-04-15 03:19:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,707
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14150814
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dragonsshades/pseuds/dragonsshades
Summary: I am the oneWho can recount what we’ve lost.I am the oneWho will live on.





	I Am The One

**Author's Note:**

> I feel as if there is never enough Leliana/Female Warden stories so I decided to add to the few there are. My Female Cousland absolutely adores Leliana.

**_I feel sun_ **

_**through the ashes in the sky.** _

 

_Anger._

Leliana was angry. Her Love, the most beautiful flower in her life, the woman who kept her alive through the Fifth blight, was banished from entering Ferelden and would be hunted for the rest of her life. 

She could remember his anger.

_Anger._

His bitterness caused his downfall, as a gentleman, but the rise as a king. After Leliana's Love allowed Loghain his life and agreed for Morrigan to proceed with her ritual, using Alistair, the King's hatred for her grew and grew until it finally burst.

 

_**Where’s the one** _

_**Who will guide us into the night?** _

 

Leliana remembered his bitter words when he placed the bounty on Cousland's head. 

_"As King of Ferelden, I hereby declare Warden Cousland an enemy of Ferelden and it's people. A bounty of a thousand gold coins has been placed on Cousland's head, dead or alive."_

The fury in his eyes was enough for Leliana to wonder where the Alistair she first met in Lothering had gone. Where was the sweet young man who had jested about screaming in the Chantry? Where was the gentleman who always held doors open for her and offered her his tent when hers was so weathered that it had ripped?

The night before Alistair's declaration, Cousland disappeared into the dark with Zevran and promises that they will see each other again. Leliana's new quest was to speak to the Grand Cleric after she received a request to meet with the holy woman. As much as she wished to follow Cousland, she had a duty to the Chantry.

 

_**What’s begun** _

_**Is the war that will force this divide.** _

 

Cousland kept in touch with her throughout the first few years. Leliana's new job took her on quests she never thought she would have experienced. One quest that reminded her of her time with Cousland was when the Divine sent her to Kirkwall. Rising tensions amongst the Mages and Templars threatened everyone, not just the people of Kirkwall. 

There, she met Marian Hawke, her hair short and choppy. The feature that stood out most to Leliana was the red paint smear across the bridge of her nose. Marian recognized Leliana immediately. She had seen her while they were in Lothering, for a short time, and although Leliana did not recognize Marian, she did recognize Bethany, whom she had prayed with in the Lothering Chantry once upon a time. 

Leliana's heart ached when Marian brought up Cousland. Marian did remind Leliana of Cousland. They did not look the same whatsoever. Cousland's hair was dirty blonde and long while Marian's was dark and cropped short, but they way Marian spoke, the way she stood, it was so similar to Cousland. 

_Oh, how she missed her Love._

Her final words to Marian were orders to tell Grand Cleric Elthina to leave, and then she herself left, with an aching heart.

 

_**What’s to come** _

_**Is fire and the end of time.** _

 

When word reached Ferelden of the Mage uprising in Kirkwall, Leliana was on a mission in Orlais. She was at the estate of a Baron who was actively speaking out against the interests of the Chantry and forming a group of radical Orlesian nobles that planned to raise an army of their own and attack Ferelden.

She had staged herself as an Orlesian noble, dressed in fine silks and pearls. She stood at a window overlooking the Baron's estate, so she had seen the Messenger. The Baron listened as the Messanger spoke urgently. Leliana could hear them from where she stood, sipping at a glass of Antivan wine.

_"Baron! There has been a Mage uprising in Kirkwall. The mages have destroyed the Chantry in a large explosion and the Grand Cleric has been pronounced dead. It has inspired uprisings in the Circles of Ferelden."_

_"Now!" The Baron exclaimed. "Now is the perfect time to strike!"_

Leliana left the Baron's estate that night with blood on her hands, wondering what her Love would have done. She wondered where her Love was and if the mage uprising had affected her in any way. 

She wondered if she would receive a letter from her again or if she would live the rest of her life without seeing her Love's hazel eyes.

 

_**I am the one** _

**_Who can recount what we've lost._ **

Leliana saw Cousland again when she was on a mission in Antiva. It was barely but a glimpse as she was in a food Market, dressed in commoner clothing. The apple in her hand dropped back into the barrel she had taken it from. 

There was no mistaking Cousland's tangled blonde hair, pulled into a loose and sloppy ponytail, her cheeks flushed, perky nose. 

She struggled against two men who pulled her into a small alleyway. 

Before Leliana even knew what she was doing, she was standing in front of the alleyway, desperately searching for the love of her life, hoping to catch another glimpse, so seek her out and hold her once more.

Instead, all she found was the bodies of the two men, their necks snapped. Whatever Cousland's goal was, she had accomplished it and disappeared once more.

Leliana allowed herself to weep for a while before returning to her own mission. 

 

_**I am the one** _

_**Who will live on.** _

 

Leliana's breath caught in the back of her throat when she first entered the small dungeon. She nearly collapsed in front of the woman they had captured, to cup her cheeks and apologize to her Love, but then she noticed the elf ears poking from beneath blonde hair. The elven woman raised her head and her hazel eyes met Leliana's. 

The similarity to Cousland was uncanny. Her hair was the same dirty blonde, more brown with blonde highlights from the sun. Her nose was perky, filled with a scattering of light freckles, her cheekbones high and prominent. Her lips were plump and full like Couslands, reminding Leliana of their last kiss, many years ago. Her eyes were filled with fire, not angry fire, but a prideful fire, a fighting and stubborn fire that Leliana had come to love in Cousland. 

But this was the prisoner from the fade, the same prisoner who happened to claim she was pulled from the fade by Andraste herself, secretly renewing Leliana's faith. 

 

_**I have run** _

_**Through the fields of pain and sighs.** _

 

After the fall of Haven, Leliana was lost. She knew she was not alone in this, either. Cullen, Cassandra, and Josephine were as stressed and lost as she was. 

Lavellan seemed to be the only one who was not as lost and instead encouraged and strengthened the resolve of the survivors. She was a shining beacon in a dark night as she led them to their new home. 

_Skyhold._

It was as beautiful and destroyed as the Temple of Sacred Ashes had been the first time Leliana witnessed it. The reconstruction would take a long while, but their effort would mean there would be a safe place for people to reside and escape Corypheus' destruction.

Even after all this time with Lavellan, she still reminded Leliana of Cousland. Every time she returned to Skyhold, she would climb the two flights of stairs to where Leliana was during the day on the top floor of the rotunda just to ask Leliana how her day was.

Hazel eyes, sweet lips, and fluttering lashes. She missed Cousland dearly.

 

_**I have fought** _

_**To see the other side.** _

 

Leliana had a vision one night at Skyhold, her head rested on her desk. She was sleepless, yet tired all at once. 

In her vision, she saw Cousland in the Deep Roads, her daggers unsheathed and ready. Her eyes were sunken in and leaking an awful blackness. Black blood dripped slowly from her nose, clotting as quickly as it ran down her upper lip. Each time she would cough, she sputtered up a mix of red and black blood, spitting it to the ground. Her hair was thinning and her cheeks were sunken. Her body was frail and thin, so different from her usually healthy and thick frame. 

She was fighting an endless stream of darkspawn. It must have been the Calling that Alistair had spoke of at one point. 

 

Leliana did not sleep that night.

 

**_I am the one_ **

**_Who can recount what we’ve lost._ **

 

Leliana stopped dead in her tracks as she entered the courtyard of Skyhold. There she was, clad in black robes with a pelt shawl as if she were attending a cold and dreary funeral. Perhaps she was attending Leliana's own funeral because the Nightengale did not believe her own eyes.

Next to her stood Zevran in similar robes, his hand on his dagger that was sheathed at his side. He was very different from how Leliana remembered him; he now looked older, wiser. His blonde hair was pulled back into a bun and his skin was darker from the sun. 

Cousland's skin was dark too, but not as Zevran's was naturally so. She was tanned from no doubt Antiva's weather, her dirty blonde hair spilling over her shoulders. Her hazel eyes wandered and admired the beauty of Skyhold, not quite yet noticing Leliana. She had even more freckles now, dense from sun exposure. 

Her eyes finally met Leliana's and a grin spread across her face. By the Maker, she was as beautiful as the first day they met at the Lothering Inn. Leliana dropped the papers in her hands and rushed toward Cousland. Her strong lover caught her in a deep embrace, holding her as tightly as she held Cousland. 

Leliana felt tears well up in the corner of her eyes. She buried her face into Cousland's neck, inhaling the scent. She no longer smelled of the lavender soap she used to lather her skin with when they bathed together. She now smelled like Zevran, a deep musky scent with a hint of salt-water. Leliana wept and pulled back to see happy tears in her lover's eyes. She pressed her forehead to Couslands, their noses knocking gently together. 

Cousland whispered against her lips. " _I believe you and I deserve our happy ending now, my love."_

  

_**I am the one**_

_**Who will li** **ve** **on.** _


End file.
